Gill era begins with QB questions

Coach: 'The quarterback spot is definitely wide open'

LAWRENCE — Rare is the coach that gets to take over a program flying high. If things were going well, of course, the job probably would not have been available.

So in at least one way, being a football coach is the same as being a plumber.

Kansas coach Turner Gill is no exception to this axiom. He enters his first season at KU with a number of unresolved issues; some a byproduct of last year's 5-7 season, some just part of the natural course of things.

He knew his circumstances going in, of course, but, man, it would have been nice to have a proven starting quarterback left in the stable, wouldn't it?

Instead, Gill has to choose from two quarterbacks — Kale Pick and Jordan Webb — who don't have a nickel's worth of meaningful college experience between them.

Practice begins Wednesday, the first game begins a month after that, and in between Gill has a decision to make.

"The quarterback spot is definitely wide open at this point in time for us," Gill said.

Well, maybe not completely wide open. Gill indicated in the spring that the competition was basically between Pick, a redshirt sophomore, and Webb, a redshirt freshman. They were the starters in the spring game and they both certainly chose Kansas under the presumption they would get a crack at replacing Todd Reesing as Kansas' quarterback.

To oversimplify the whole thing, Webb has the stronger arm and is more of a traditional spread passer while Pick has the better wheels and fits an offense that will use the quarterback as a runner. That may not mean much, though, as Gill plans to deploy multiple offensive strategies. He said in the spring he was looking for leadership from the quarterback position, then said at Big 12 Media Days last week that he wasn't sure he was going to get enough from that spot.

"I think it's probably not necessarily totally going to come from a quarterback," he said. "And we talked about everybody being a leader, and everybody has an opportunity to be a leader on the football team."

The Jayhawks return 38 players, including 17 starters from last season. They begin the season at 6 p.m. on Sept. 4 against North Dakota State in Lawrence. The game will be televised on Fox College Sports Central.

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules of
civility. Posts and comments do not reflect the views of this site.
Posts and comments are automatically checked for inappropriate
language, but readers might find some comments offensive or
inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the
"Flag as offensive" link below the comment.

Hey Topeka Capitol Journal staff, where the hell is all the Chiefs news? What do you guys do with your day? Everyone knows KU and KSU have QB problems, but until a starter is named there's no reason to write about this. Currently we have a NFL team, on the rise, that has been in training camp for about a week. WHERE IS THE NEWS?!! People pay you guys money so that you can cover local sports. You have no problem writing about how much the Royals suck after every game, so why can't you write some Chiefs articles. This is probably the reason I see more people in this area subscribing to the KC Start or the LJW. Get with the program people!!!!